Lionfish Lost Colour, Cloudy Eyes, Not Eating

[lion king]

There was no sign of ick or velvet on those two, or any of my other fish, pretty sure it's not something like that.

So if I am understanding everything, pretty much every sort of meds will kill the lion eventually, so my absolute best bet is to get it eating and it should fight this off, whatever it may be?

Copper and antibiotics absolutely will at the least substantially decrease the dwarf lions lifespan, usually living not much more than a year and usually much less after treatment, even if they survive treatment. It is never a good idea to just blanket treat something that you don't even know what it is. The cloudy eyes and faded color at it's best could be the lions shedding, just cause or to fight something off. If the water is pristine and the lion is fed well with nutritionally sound foods, his best bet is to let it ride. I would feed him live ghost shrimp, live mollies, and/or live guppies; to at least get him strong, for now. This is also considering he has been cleared by observation and/or treatment and observation of real or potential internal parasites. That sums it up, take it for what it is, and make an informed decision as to how to proceed.

 

[lion king]

So here's a pic of one of my fuzzies going after a chunk of shrimp. It's a rigid airline tube with a fishing line fished through, the tail of the shrimp is pierced with the fishing line. When I move it through the water, the chunk will somewhat occilate imitating movement. Sorry I have a hard time loading vids.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Looking at my lion today, some of the colour seems to have returned, eyes are still cloudy. However it seems to be breathing a little faster, but I don't know for sure, could just be me imaging things. Also sitting at an angle on the bottom.

 

[lion king]

Looking at my lion today, some of the colour seems to have returned, eyes are still cloudy. However it seems to be breathing a little faster, but I don't know for sure, could just be me imaging things. Also sitting at an angle on the bottom.

Has he eaten anything?

 

[Hugh Mann]

Has he eaten anything?

No. I've tried the trick with the stick too, nothing.

 

[Cstar_BC]

No. I've tried the trick with the stick too, nothing.

Try guppy , you need the juvenile size like 3/4” , any bigger and my guy spits them back out .

I feed the guppy prior to throwing it in the tank , that way The lion indirectly gets the food I want

 

[lion king]

No. I've tried the trick with the stick too, nothing.

I recommended live fish because the nutritional value of the gut flora in a live fish may play an important role in fighting off such an attack. The nitrates also need to drop to at least 30ppm, so a series of water changes are in order.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I am sorry to report I came home on my lunch break to find my lionfish dead. And now some of my fish are showing signs that leaves me to believe it's gill flukes. Where it came from, I don't know, I haven't added a fish in a month.

 

[lion king]

Sorry to hear that, I'm not sure how to help you guys in Canada, if you can't get prazi pro, thaty's what we would use for flukes. Almost all the fish I see needs to be treated with prazi pro or general cure, or prazi pro and metroplex. I have 20 fish and all but about 3 had one malady or another and had to treated with prazi pro, general cure, some sort of antibiotic, or copper.

 

[Cstar_BC]

Sorry to hear that, I'm not sure how to help you guys in Canada, if you can't get prazi pro, thaty's what we would use for flukes. Almost all the fish I see needs to be treated with prazi pro or general cure, or prazi pro and metroplex. I have 20 fish and all but about 3 had one malady or another and had to treated with prazi pro, general cure, some sort of antibiotic, or copper.

Would Cupramine work ?

 

[Hugh Mann]

Sorry to hear that, I'm not sure how to help you guys in Canada, if you can't get prazi pro, thaty's what we would use for flukes. Almost all the fish I see needs to be treated with prazi pro or general cure, or prazi pro and metroplex. I have 20 fish and all but about 3 had one malady or another and had to treated with prazi pro, general cure, some sort of antibiotic, or copper.

Thank you, for everything. It's a sad day indeed, but with your information I feel like I will be more successful with a future lionfish. One of my favourites, and it may take a while, but a lion will grace my tank again.

 

[Hugh Mann]

The feeder mollies broke out in some pretty nasty velvet, which by my reading matches with exactly what my fish were showing, and after a FW dip, which I hear doesn't affect gill flukes, are looking much, much better, and I got some copper based stuff from a friend to target the velvet.

The eel may not like it very much, but hopefully can find a temporary tank for him to live in while I sort this mess out.

Thabk you so much everyone for your advice and everything.

 

[lion king]

The feeder mollies broke out in some pretty nasty velvet, which by my reading matches with exactly what my fish were showing, and after a FW dip, which I hear doesn't affect gill flukes, are looking much, much better, and I got some copper based stuff from a friend to target the velvet.

The eel may not like it very much, but hopefully can find a temporary tank for him to live in while I sort this mess out.

Thabk you so much everyone for your advice and everything.

Yes sounds like either velvet or ick, some people actually put a molly in a tank to test for these diseases. Copper is the best route for that, and the eel will not tolerate the copper. A fresh water dip will decrease the effects of ick and velvet, and will buy you time to get the treatment prepared. A healthy eel is also very resistant to ick and velvet, their slime coating prevents its from attaching. I have transferred eels from velvet tanks and they never transferred it or was effected by it. An eel is one that will either not survive copper treatment or die within a year or so after exposure, just like lions. If you search my threads, I posted a number of write ups about keeping lions, posted in the predator forum.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Yes sounds like either velvet or ick, some people actually put a molly in a tank to test for these diseases. Copper is the best route for that, and the eel will not tolerate the copper. A fresh water dip will decrease the effects of ick and velvet, and will buy you time to get the treatment prepared. A healthy eel is also very resistant to ick and velvet, their slime coating prevents its from attaching. I have transferred eels from velvet tanks and they never transferred it or was effected by it. An eel is one that will either not survive copper treatment or die within a year or so after exposure, just like lions. If you search my threads, I posted a number of write ups about keeping lions, posted in the predator forum.

I dipped my fish earlier for 5 minutes each, all are looking and acting much better.

I'm aware of the issue with the eel, however I don't have a separate tank, and the one guy I know locally won't take him due to having too many edible fish. Mine is super healthy to my knowledge, eats a ton and has never had any issues. That being said, has shown some signs of infection, more than usual headshaking and yawning.

Unfortunately for me right now its either potentially lose the eel, or guaranteed lose everything except maybe the eel. I don't know the feasibility of keeping an eel in say, a medium (15gal?) plastic tote for two weeks, and setting it up before velvet kills everything else.